Balderdash!

You know that game called Balderdash, where you try to make up convincing definitions of bizarre words? If the past few weeks are any indication, Keira will be a world champion of that game someday--she is all about making up new words lately.

When Bear was tickling her the other night, she shrieked, "Daddy, you're so cuffy!" Bear paused, confused, and asked her, "What's a cuffy?" She thought for a second, and then adopted her best Patient Explanation Voice: "A cuffy...is a kind of coffee that you can drink."

Okay...cuffy, coffee. I can see where that came from.

The next day, we were walking through a parking lot when she announced, "Hey, I have a good rhyme, Mommy! Here, skeer!"

"What's a skeer?" I asked.

"A skeer," she replied in that same voice, "is a kind of dirt that is yucky to eat."

Oooooohkay. Now we've got a budding wordsmith on our hands. Just call her Keira Shakespeara! My favorite part is when she occasionally puts her index finger in the air as she offers her definition, as if she's a tiny professor making a key point in her lecture.

Other recent Keira-isms:

Bear: "Sweetie, don't chew on the bathtub plug!"
Keira: "But Daaaaad. I'm pretending it's a BRC burrito!"
(I have an El Pollo Loco addiction and have passed it onto my child. So sue me.)

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Trying to fit a bunch of things in her purse: "I am getting FUSS-trated!"
Me: "And what do you do when you're feeling frustrated?"
Keira: "I sing and I poot."

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While I was helping her in the bathroom: "Mom, it is yourrrrr pleasure to clean me."

Ummm, not really! This one no doubt came from our weekly Chick Fil-A dinners, because the employees there are apparently forbidden to use the words "You're welcome" under penalty of death; the only response to "Thank you" ever uttered there is, "My pleasure!" This includes awkward moments such as:

Cashier to Keira: "Wow, you have such beautiful hair!"
Keira: "Thank you."
Cashier: "My pleasure."

Weird. I've noticed this in other places of business lately, too, so I'm guessing some memo went out about how customers respond more positively to that phrase or something. Who really pays THAT much attention to words?

Oh, wait...this kid does!